


we'll have one on each knee, you and me

by b99xperaltiago



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, Near Future, Post-Season/Series 07, Season/Series 07 Spoilers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, just basically a lot of fluff, you get the hint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 14,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23382127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b99xperaltiago/pseuds/b99xperaltiago
Summary: A collection of Tumblr-prompt peraltiago drabbles and oneshots based around pregnancy, parenthood and everything in between.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 44
Kudos: 159





	1. "i missed you both so much"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a complete sucker for peralta-santiago oneshots based off their family because who wouldn't be? So here's my interpretation of it because Amy being pregnant is given me a crap ton of ideas in this area. 
> 
> title from "falling like the stars" by james arthur because I am currently obsessed with the song.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake returns back from a week-long work trip, Amy and their son are at the gate waiting for him.

Waiting at the gate with a six-month-old probably wasn't her smartest idea but she couldn't have asked Charles or Rosa to take him as she went to pick Jake up from the airport - not only would she not want to do it, but she knows Jake would want them both to be there when his flight landed from Austin. 

He had been called off there for something work-related last week, but truth be told she had been up since four-thirty that morning so she wasn't a _hundred_ percent sure she remembered exactly why her husband had flown half-way across the country just over a week ago. 

They video chatted every night before Amy had put Arlo down for bed but despite having seen her husband's face every night even after the baby was asleep, she still missed him like crazy - and apparently Arlo did too as he is currently trying to escape his mother's arms on to the floor. To be quite frank, the infant's new obsession is crawling around at high speeds any chance he gets so Amy's half sure the reason he wants to get down is so he can crawl around the gate, but the last thing she would want right now is for him to get hurt. 

In an attempt to contain the infant, Amy places him inside the stroller but that ends in the pouting of the bottom lip and quivering look in his large brown eyes within seconds. She takes a deep breath and quickly removes the boy from his stroller and lifts him into her arms again, placing him on her hip and bouncing him up and down in an attempt to keep him occupied as she watches the board with Jake's flight number on intently, waiting for it to change, telling her that her husband had landed safely.

Arlo doesn't seem to be having it though, only wanting to be on the floor.

"Hey, baby, daddy will be here soon okay, you've just got to be patient with me, okay?" She wonders, pleading with the six-month-old to not to have a meltdown in the middle of the airport. 

The infant stares up to his mother with confusion in his eyes before he loses interest very quickly and instead reaches out for the giraffe plush toy in the stroller. Amy leans forward and picks it up, presenting it in front of Arlo and his lips turn up to a huge goofy grin across his face - something Amy knows he had gotten from Jake. 

They sit on one of the chairs at the gate and Arlo seems very content playing peek-a-boo with his giraffe he had been gifted from Charles the day he was born until Amy looks up again for what must have been the dozenth time to see the fact that Jake's flight had landed and he should be coming through any moment. She stands and Arlo seems immediately insulted about the fact she had stopped playing. Whilst keeping one eye on the gate doors she tries to please the infant by rocking the plush toy from side to side before Arlo begins getting agitated. 

She places him down on the seat and rests her knee there to stop him crawling away or falling off the edge before she looks in the bottom of the stroller, grabbing the sippy cup and handing it into the infant's already outstretched and open hands before picking him back up and placing him on her hip. 

People quickly begin leaving the gate and she steps forward, managing to drag the stroller behind her with the baby happily drinking in her arms. She watches everyone walk off to their respective partners before she sees the bright smile of Jake meeting her gaze. 

Arlo quickly takes the cup out of his mouth and squeals out happily, the huge grin on his face showing off his first bottom tooth beginning to pierce through. 

Jake goes over quickly and wraps his arms around his wife, hugging her tightly as the infant continues to fill the airport gate noise with his happy shouts. "I missed you both so much." He says as he pulls away from the hug and taking his son into his arms per the child's demanding request. 

Amy laughs. "We missed you too, Arlo especially so apparently."

The detective puts a kiss into the boy's curls on the top of his head. "Hey, Arlie." He says and Arlo lights up even more at the sound of his father's voice. 

Jake then meets Amy's lips against his chastely and he smiles widely to her as they part. Before he can speak though, she beats him to it. 

"You are never leaving me with a teething, crawling everywhere six-month-old again, you hear me." She says sternly, but the smile clear on her face. 

He shakes his head subtly. "I wouldn't dream of it."


	2. "that's our baby"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support I got on the last chapter, it means the uttermost world to me so thank you! <33
> 
> Also, who's excited about tonight's episode? I know I am, I've even apologized to my friends in advance for what I might put on our group chat tomorrow once I've seen the episode.

He had never been so excited but yet so nervous about something in his entire life. The drive to the doctor's office had been kinda quiet, they had only spoken a few times for very brief moments but most of the time Amy had been looking silently out the window and Jake had been trying to keep his hands still against the wheel. 

Today they were finally getting to see their baby for the first time, get to hear their baby's heartbeat. That fact was both exhilarating and a little overwhelming, being able to see the life he and Amy created together, just them; being able to see the tiny image of the person they care so much about already, the person that in less than nine months will be the center of their attention. 

When Jake stopped the car in the parking lot just outside the doctor's office, he turns to face Amy before they can step out. He reaches forward and grabs her hand, rubbing to top of hers with the pad of his thumb as he smiles gently in her direction. "Whatever they say in there, it's us remember? We can deal with anything, no matter what."

Amy smiles weakly and nods. "It's just we tried for so long for this baby, I'm just worried they're gonna say something is wrong."

It takes him a beat to respond but eventually he just sighs. "It's gonna be okay, I promise, you and me can get through anything."

She nods again and they both leave the car, joining together again on the curb. Amy grabs hold of his arm and doesn't let go until they're in the room with the technician. 

The room is put in the dark apart from the light coming off the screen. Jake unconsciously grabs hold of Amy's hand and interlocks his fingers with hers as they both stare intently to the screen. Grey flecks and dots fly past the screen before the tiny grey blob appears on the otherwise black screen.

"That's your baby." The tech says with a wide smile, pointing it out and turning the screen to a better angle.

Jake bites down on his lip to contain the grin growing on his face as he leans forward, putting his elbows against the reclining chair. He examines the grey blob on the screen and feels his eyes prick as he sees the quick fluttering of what he assumes is the heart.

The tech breaks the silence again. "The heartbeat is strong too," he says, "Congratulations."

Amy sits up in the seat and smiles at the screen. She doesn't say anything until the technician leaves, saying he's giving them a moment alone, and Jake nudges it out of her.

"Isn't that crazy, Ames?" He wonders, his eyes glued to grey and black filling the small ultrasound screen.

She nods, tears beginning to run down her cheeks. _Stupid hormones_ she thinks to herself as she smiles widely, looking up to meet Jake's gaze. "That's our baby." She says with a small crack in her voice.

"Yeah, it's our baby," Jake nods quickly, "We made that."

Amy closes the distance between them and he can taste the salty stream of the tears against her lips but he knows this time it's from joy. These tears are like the ones that fell after their hug a few weeks ago, the ones that followed her showing him the positive test she had in her hoodie pocket, not the ones that fell silently after every heartbreak of negative test after negative test. She rests her hand up on his neck below his ear and smiles widely as they part. 

"We did, we made that." She repeats, turning her attention back to the screen again. 

By far the last six months had been the worst, worse than Florida or prison or going undercover, so seeing the tiny grey blob on the screen in front of him - the prize for getting through the worst heartbreak he could fathom - makes it so worth it. 


	3. "not on the wall"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, how was that episode?? I fricken cried and I'm so happy because I got the sex right! I never get it right, so first time for everything I guess XD
> 
> Also, introducing peralta-santiago baby #2... and yes, the two of them are very close in age, will go into detail about that another time though... enjoy!

This had to have been some kind of record for keeping both kids occupied and quiet. He had brought the arts and crafts out from the drawer Amy kept ready for a rainy day to keep them both going while he cleaned up after dinner and until Amy got home from work - as he knew both of the kids would refuse to start getting ready for bed until she was home.

After cleaning up, Jake had joined them at the table and watched the two toddlers express their creativity in two very different ways: Arlo was very content drawing what Jake assumed was animals on a sheet of paper and Dora was happy placing stickers everywhere else but the sticker book she was given, places that included her shirt, her face and up her arms, as well as on the table right beside the book.

Although Jake just watched in awe as he heard his daughter squeal out happily, pointing out the pig sticker in the middle of her forehead and making pig noises.

That is until his phone rings in his pocket.

He glances at the screen after pulling it out and sighs quietly to see Charles's name come up. Knowing he can't let it go to voicemail, Jake picks up the phone and leaves the table, going to stand in the hallway. He talks to his friend for less than two minutes - he was only calling to inform him of this new idea - and when he hangs up and turns back around to the dining room he's stopped slightly by shock.

In the two minutes he had his back turned - _less than that_ \- Arlo had already managed to draw on the wall of the dining room.

Jake rushes over and snatches the pen from his son. "What are you doing? You can't draw on the wall." He says, kneeling down to get to eye-level with the almost three-year-old.

Arlo looks to his father with a confused look. "I was just drawing."

"You draw on the paper, not on the wall, you know that."

The confused look immediately drops to a saddened, guilt-ridden turn of the young boy's lips. "I'm sorry."

Jake gets to his feet again and gently grabs hold of his son's hand. "Come on, we'll get you cleared up," he mumbles, noting to the fact Arlo had gotten pen across his face, "You too, Dora, let's put this stuff away now, it's bedtime."

The youngest huffs. "But I'm not tired." She complains.

"Dora, come on baby, we need to put this all away before mama gets home." Jake sighs.

The eighteen-month-old holds her grudging face and folds her arms over her chest before turning her body away from her father in a strop. For a cute kid, she can push with the six-month-premature terrible twos sometimes. "I don't want to."

Jake decides it's best not to argue with her at the time being, knowing full well if the toddler got into a tantrum now it wouldn't finish until gone nine, so instead he leads Arlo into the bathroom and grabs a washcloth to scrub down the young boy's face but just as he was washing down the pen that seemed to refuse to want to leave the toddler's nose he hears the front door to the apartment open and Amy calling out his name.

"Oh, shi-" he starts before stopping himself given the fact he was probably already in trouble for turning his back after giving Arlo a pen and doesn't want to further deepen himself for swearing in front of the two-year-old, "Sugar, I said sugar." He corrects before standing up from the edge of the bathtub and walking out of the bathroom.

When he goes out there, Amy is stood in the middle of the living room holding Dora close on her hip and giving him an unamused look.

"Mama!" Arlo shouts, freeing himself from his father's grasp and running up to Amy.

She smiles weakly down to her son before placing Dora back down on the floor beside her brother. "Can you two go pick out your pajamas for me, I need to talk to daddy."

They both smile innocently and run in the direction toward their shared bedroom, leaving Jake and Amy stood in the living room.

She makes a subtle point toward the wall in the dining room. "What happened there, Jake?"

He nervously laughs and runs his hand behind his neck. "That's a funny story."

"I don't want the funny story, I want to know why there's pen all over the wall." She sighs, taking a step forward.

Jake hesitates for a moment before answering in a quiet, defeated tone. "Arlo drew on the wall."

Amy widens her eyes. "And you didn't stop him?"

"I had my back turned for less than two minutes, I was standing in the hall."

Amy sighs loudly. "You know not to turn your back on Arlo, especially after last week."

Jake looks down to the floor as he thinks back to that incident in the kitchen, where he turned his back for less than ten seconds to deal with Dora's request for a drink of water to turn back around and Arlo had gotten himself into the fridge and had tipped the cheese all over the floor. He looks back up to meet Amy's glare. "I'm sorry."

"Can you clean up the art stuff? I'm gonna get the kids ready for bed." Amy says, already walking toward the kids' bedroom.

He nods and goes over to the kitchen table, picking up all the stickers and pens and putting them back in their appropriate pots and back in the drawer ready for another use. He takes a subtle glance to the pen lines on the paint and grimaces slightly, deciding to try and remove them. After a quick google search on how to remove the pen from the wall, he goes over to the kitchen to fish out the things he needed. 

Once he begins rubbing down the wall with a damp cloth, Amy comes out from the hallway and tells him to stop. 

"Don't bother," she says, which makes him turn on his heels quickly and furrow his eyebrows, "We said we wanted to repaint this room anyway, it will just mean we get it done faster."

Jake puts the cloth down. "Are you sure?"

She nods. "Also, he wanted to make something for you a little more permanent because he thinks we throw away his drawings."

"Why would he think that?" Jake questions, crossing his arms over his chest.

Amy shrugs subtly. "Because someone in daycare said that it's what parents do."

A beat passes before Jake takes a step closer. "So does that mean you're not mad at him anymore?"

She shakes her head slightly. "No, I'm not."

"And you're not mad at me either for turning my back quickly?" Jake questions. 

She walks toward him and takes his hands in hers. "No, I'm not mad at you either, but speaking of you, Dora wants a story before bed but will only let you do it."

Jake smiles. "Okay, I'll go read her a story," he says, placing a chaste kiss against her cheek, "Welcome home by the way."

She can't help but chuckle a little. "Yeah and what a welcome home I got."


	4. "you brought mama down too"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took a little longer than the others, I wrote like two other versions of this before settling on the third option - third times the charm right? I just didn't like the other ones, and I'm not a hundred percent sure I like this one either, I just have the motivation to go through and change it all and write another one instead.

This morning had been one of the craziest of his life, if not the craziest.

It had started out like any other, Jake waking up in the embrace of his wife with the July sun peaking in through from behind the curtains to the sound of his son unhappily crying for someone from the nursery. Amy had rolled over to her side in a subtle dramatic fashion, mumbling that it was his turn to get the infant up as she had done it the morning before. Without arguing, Jake had rolled out of bed and shuffled tiredly toward the nursery and picked up the very unhappy eight-month-old from the crib and talked to him, trying to comfort the fussy infant, until Amy appeared in the doorway. 

"Maybe he's teething again, he was a bit restless when I put him down last night." She had said as she approaches the two of them in the middle of the nursery takes the boy out of his father's arms as he reaches out for her quickly.

They took Arlo out of the room and placed him in his highchair as Jake fetched one of the popsicles from the freezer that helped with this as Amy attempted to check the infant's mouth to check if he was - however this just agitated him even further. 

Jake hands the popsicle over to Amy as well as a paper towel in case either one of them ended up holding it for a long period of time as she shrugs. "I think he might be, but I can't be certain. I think I saw one coming through at the bottom." She said as she placed the popsicle in front of the boy. 

Arlo graciously takes the cold stick from her hand and immediately puts it into his mouth - although currently, everything went in his mouth. Jake had insisted on placing lemon on a plate on the floor to see if he would try and eat it for a laugh to see what Arlo's reaction would be, but Amy had shut it down immediately. 

The next few hours became a blur, they went by so quickly he hardly had any time to process it all as it happened. Jake had first noticed something was off when he began making the oatmeal for Arlo's breakfast and Amy had a reaction he vaguely remembered from when she was pregnant and was around anyone drinking coffee, but Amy had never really been a fan of oatmeal in the microwave anyway and he couldn't blame her - it didn't smell _great_. He had asked her if she was feeling alright and she nodded her head, smiling in his direction and when he took the oatmeal out she seemed to go back to normal. 

Arlo had smiled slightly when the bowl was placed in front of him but he had hesitated before throwing his fist in the bowl and getting it covered in oatmeal. He had laughed at this, which made both Jake and Amy laugh too. 

Amy broke Jake's attention by pointing in the direction of the bathroom. "I'm gonna get in the shower before work." She said before being cut off by the first obstacle the morning threw at them. 

Within seconds Arlo had managed to throw up all over himself and the highchair. Jake quickly took the bowl away from him and managed to unstrap him from the highchair before taking him through to the bath and placing him inside of it and stripping the infant from the dirty pajamas. They bathed him and put him into a clean onesie - knowing that he was definitely not going into daycare today, that was probably where he had caught whatever stomach bug they said was going around in the first place, so there was no point in getting him changed into normal clothes. 

Jake kept asking Amy is she was alright because she didn't look it, however she kept insisting she was fine. That kept going for god knows how long, he had lost count of the time, until it came tumbling back down on her when Jake was on the phone with Holt, announcing that he wouldn't be in today (they had agreed that Jake would stay home with Arlo today and if he still didn't seem to be feeling great the following day Amy would stay off with him) when Amy had begun throwing up herself. 

He had quickly retracted his statement to Holt, saying both of them would be off due to a _"change in situation"_ before he went over to the bathroom door, knocking and asking if she was alright - he couldn't open the door because she had locked it on her way in. She said she was fine before she retched again, making Jake grimace and walk away from the door again and back over to Arlo in the living room. 

The infant looked up to him happily as he pulled himself up against the couch, which was something he had started doing recently. Arlo smiles widely and shows off the now four teeth in his mouth, the fifth one just beginning to poke through the gum - so he was teething too. "You look very pleased with yourself, Arlo, what have you done? You brought mama down too." Jake says with a smile on his face as he picks the boy up and lifts him into the air, being careful not to lift him up too quickly as he didn't really want Arlo to throw up all over him - he had already had his fair share of being peed on when Arlo was a newborn and he was _just_ too slow with changing his diaper. 

Arlo giggles as if he was saying he was very proud of himself for what he had done that day, making Jake chuckle along with the eight-month-old. 

Before Jake knew it, Arlo was down for a nap and Amy was calling him into the bathroom for the second time (well at least he thinks it's the second time anyway). This time however there is the nervous quiver in her voice and he's not sure if it's because she's just trying to be quiet as not to wake the sleeping infant or if it's because she's nervous about something and when he walks in he immediately notes that it was the latter. 

Jake goes over and pulls her into a tight hug in an attempt to calm her down a little. "Ames, what's wrong?"

She pulls away and stares him in the eye. "I don't have the stomach bug that Arlo has." She says quietly.

His brows furrow. "What do you mean?" 

Amy then reaches behind her, grabbing the all-too-familiar stick from the counter, one that they had seen many times in the past. "I'm pregnant." 


	5. "i feel like that's such a common name"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy decide on the name for their son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very aware that this is very short, but I wrote this to follow an 8,000 word chapter (which is the longest one I've ever written btw) so if you would like to read the days before this (nov 14th-nov 20th) it is on my works under the name "just trust in good time (no matter how long it takes)"... I would recommend reading that one first but you don't have to if you don't want to, this can be a stand-alone. 
> 
> Enjoy!

**Nov 21st, 2020 (41wks, 3d)**

After the craziness of the past twenty-four hours, if not the last week in total, Amy feels at ease with what was the world's cutest baby in her arms sleeping peacefully (not that she was biased in any way). Eleven hours after they had gotten to the hospital their son had been born, so there was a total of nineteen hours, and even less than half of the day had passed and the newborn already had his parents wrapped around his tiny fingers - all ten of his tiny fingers and toes.

Although it shocked them both how tiny baby fingers are but how strong they are.

Jake just couldn't get over how perfect this kid is. Everything about the tiny figure in his wife's arms was as perfect as it could be - from the dark strands of hair on his head to the creases of his tiny toes. And luckily he had the cutest button nose which Jake had definitely poked several times in the last hour already.

The newborn was bigger than both Amy and Jake had guessed, being just over eight-pounds, but he was healthy. That's all they cared about and the fact he was the cutest thing ever was just an added bonus.

The jury was still out on the name though, they just couldn't pick one that was just as perfect as he was as Amy had put it after vetoing what must have been the dozenth name.

"What about Samuel?" Jake asked, looking up from his phone.

Amy hesitates for a moment, looking down to the newborn sleeping soundly in her arms, before shaking her head. "He doesn't seem like a Samuel, and I feel like that's such a common name, I don't want him in a class with hundreds of other Samuels," She reasons before pausing to think of a name Jake hadn't already vetoed, "How about Austin?"

Jake immediately shakes his head. "You can never trust someone named after a city."

"That wouldn't be where it was from but okay." Amy mumbles with a tilt of her head.

"Elijah?"

Amy sighs. "My brother and sister-in-law already called dibs on that one, he would kill me."

He nods and looks back down to his phone for another minute. hat's when he stumbles across one while quickly flying his thumb up the screen. He processes the name for a brief moment before looking back up to Amy with curiosity. "What about Arlo?"

Something clicks with her as well as she looks back down to the newborn with his face squished slightly into Amy's arms and his mouth open slightly as she repeats the name quietly to herself. She nods and smiles. "I like Arlo."

Jake's eyes widen. "You do?"

She nods again and looks back up to him, the smile still wide on her face. "Yeah, I do, I really like Arlo."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No offense to anyone with those names, I love them all, I just found the first names on a list and used them. <3


	6. "your baby sister"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my sister's birthday today and one of the main things I can remember from that day is meeting her in the hospital for the first time, so I was just in the mood to write a very short fluff piece of Arlo meeting his baby sister for the first time.

"Guess who?" The sound of Charles's overly-happy voice came through from behind the closed door before it swung open, allowing Arlo to run into the room squealing.

The one-year-old was still a little off with his balance, if he ran too fast he would trip over, but he managed to make the small steps to the bed before collapsing into the side, trying to climb up on top. 

Amy smiles and helps the toddler up before hugging him tightly. She and Jake had only been gone one night and he was already asleep when they had left but she still couldn't wake him up this morning - because the boy had inherited his father's sleeping pattern and would sleep all day if he wasn't woken up. 

Before either one of Jake and Amy could greet him too, Charles pipes in and takes a step closer toward the bed. "So, where is the new addition to the family?" He asks impatiently. 

They both roll their eyes slightly before Jake lifts the newborn from the plastic crib. Charles almost passes out but he manages to contain himself, but he still ends up crying. The shorter detective had graciously accepted their request at two-thirty this morning when Amy had gone into labor and had rushed over to look after Arlo while they were there. He had received the call at lunchtime saying that the baby had been born and he rushed to get there as Amy was basically pleading to see the toddler.

Arlo lifts his head up to see the newborn in his father's arms before looking to Amy. "Baby?" He wonders, his eyebrows furrowing deeply.

That was his new favourite word. They had started to teach it to him when Amy first found she was pregnant again, but he didn't grasp hold of the fact until a few weeks back, and since then everything was baby. 

Jake smiles. "Yeah, Arlie, baby, your baby sister."

A wide grin appears on the toddler's face as he gets up on to his knees and climbs over his mother's legs to take a better look at the small bundle of blankets. "Hold?" He says, placing his hands outstretched. 

Amy and Jake share a look before they nod, Amy telling Arlo to sit down beside her and put his arms out. Doing as he was told he takes the newborn into his arms, with Jake helping support the weight in his son's arms, and looks down to her with a smile. He stares at his sister for a moment before looking back up to his parents. "Baby."

They were worried about how the sixteen-month-old would react to his sister, he always liked to have all the attention on himself, but this was everything they could have ever wished for. He was so calm, and he looked so happy. 

Arlo smiles widely as the newborn starts moving in his arms before he shushes her quiet when she starts to stir. Jake is about to intervene before she stops again, opening her eyes for a very brief moment before closing them again and falling asleep in her brother's arms. 

Suddenly they're broken out of the trance of watching their son happily hold his little sister by Charles speaking at the foot of the hospital bed. "Don't worry guys, I got the picture."


	7. "you need to sleep"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated going through all the old chapters and changing Arlo's name but it felt wrong to me so I'm gonna leave him in those ones and now change him to baby Mac for the following god knows how long I decide to keep this up. 
> 
> Sorry this took a while, none of the prompts I had I felt like writing, and I didn't want to force writing something I didn't know what to put because in that case you go back ending up hating what you wrote, that's what it's like for me anyway. 
> 
> Enjoy my first (of probably many) drabble featuring Mac Santiago-Peralta!

They had been home a few hours (thanks to the fact that discharge seemed to have taken all day) and Amy doesn't think she's actually moved from the couch since they arrived back into the warmth of their own apartment. She's not sure if she's suffering from what Holt, in a slightly embarrassed way to cover up his and Terry's funny but effective distraction method two days before, described as _"mommy-brain much?"_ and is just not remembering if she had gotten up to go to the bathroom or something that didn't involve changing or feeding the newborn, or if she really hasn't moved from the couch.

But right now the last thing on her mind is moving. She's got Mac milk-drunk and passed out in her arms and she doesn't think she's been so high on cloud nine ever. Her fingers traced the outline of the boy's chubby cheeks and followed the lines of the hair on top of his head and she couldn't get rid of the grin that had been there on like a somewhat permanent stain so much that her face hurt but every time she saw the small reflex smiles on Mac's lips as he slept it would just bring hers out even more. 

Jake appeared over her shoulder and smiled down at the newborn in his wife's arms. "You should be sleeping if he is." He tells her, leaning his elbows against the hard back of the couch as he watches in awe at his son. 

She nods, looking up to meet his gaze very briefly before moving her eyes and locking them back in Mac's direction. "I know, but he's only just fallen asleep, I don't want to risk waking him by standing up just yet, I'm gonna give him a little more time to fall deeper asleep." She says in a whisper, keeping her gaze printed on the baby that fit perfectly into her arms. 

There's a silent pause before Jake joins her on the couch and places his hand gently on top of the infant's, stroking his finger against the incredibly soft skin on the top of the tiny fist. "Yeah, that sounds like a clever idea because we have no idea what he would be like if we woke _him_ up for a change."

"We also know he's safe if we're awake while he's asleep." Amy adds before stifling back a yawn.

She's not really sure about the last time she slept properly. Last night they had a newborn keeping them up every two to three hours demanding attention or food or a clean diaper, not that they were really sleeping during the time Mac was asleep himself, the night before that Amy couldn't really think of sleeping because she had just given birth and before then she kept being woken up with the need to pee and the sensation she now knows might not have been _"just cramps"_.

Jake looks up from the newborn to meet Amy's gaze, making her look up from Mac too. "Ames, you need to sleep, you must be exhausted."

Amy quickly shakes her head gently. "No, I'm fine, trust me."

"Babe," Jake begins sternly but smiles widely in her direction, "You and I both know you haven't slept in days and we also both know sleep deprivation isn't great with a newborn. You go and take a nap and I can watch over him to make sure he's okay."

She sighs, knowing there would be no point and a waste of energy and time she could spend asleep while she can to argue with him. "Fine." She says with a hint of stubbornness in her voice as she gently transfers Mac into jake's arms, being as careful as she can not to wake him up. 

The newborn grunts quietly in his sleep, shifting slightly as if getting comfortable in his father's hold before going silent again, snuggling closer into Jake's embrace. They both watch him intently for a moment before Jake look backs up to Amy. "Go and take a nap."

Amy huffs with a smile on her face as she stands from the couch. "I'm going." She says as she shuffles along the floor toward the bedroom, turning over her shoulder to take another quick glance at the two of them on the couch before shutting the door so it's open ajar in case Mac woke up before she did - as much as she trusts Jake to take care of him, he's done it so many times in the past two days and knows how to soothe his cries quite quickly now, if the newborn woke up hungry again there wasn't much Jake could do to fix that as of right now, so she needs to be prepared. 


	8. "you didn't tell anyone today"

"You didn't tell anyone today, did you?" Amy asks quickly, jumping up from the couch the moment Jake stepped foot into the apartment. 

It had only been less than twenty-four hours since Jake and Amy had received the best news they could have. They were pregnant, _finally_. All the waiting and heartbreak of the past six months had paid off. They were finally getting what they wanted so badly. 

"Nice to see you too," he widens his eyes slightly as he puts his bag down on the floor beside the door and kicks his shoes off, placing them in their usual spot. He straightens up before smiling and shaking his head at the urgency in her voice. "And no, I didn't say anything to anyone."

She blows out a small sigh of relief as she smiles back in his direction. "Sorry, it's just I know you had trouble keeping the secret that we were trying, this is much bigger than that and _nobody_ can know, not yet anyway." 

Jake steps forward, wrapping his arms around her waist, placing a gentle, chaste kiss against her forehead. "I know, it's much bigger news to hide from people but I also know how important it is to you that no one knows until we reach the twelve-week mark."

Amy nods and looks up to him sadly. "We haven't even got it confirmed that we are pregnant yet, and even if there's the small chance that we are I don't want to risk having anyone know in case we -"

"No, we've said we're not gonna talk about that," he interrupts, pushing her away but still holding a small grip against her shoulders, "And we've taken many more tests that have all come back positive too, no doubt about any of them."

She places her head against his shoulder, taking in a deep breath before he can feel her nodding against his collar bone. "I know, but I'd rather have it doctor-confirmed before it all starts to feel real for me. There's a part of me that's convinced that every one of those other tests was a false positive, because there is a chance of that happening, and that the universe wouldn't be this kind."

Jake can't help but chuckle quietly under his breath. "Ames, you know the possibility of one false positive is already very low, the chances of like five in a row is probably very, very, _very_ unlikely."

"But there is still that chance, whether it is very unlikely or not." Amy sighs, pulling away and staring in his direction.

The corners of his lips turn upwards slightly. "First of all I said very, very, _very_ unlikely, which means there's even less of a chance," he replies, making her smile back to him in response, "And secondly, I have got this feeling and I just know I am right with it." 

Her smile grows wider as she stands on her toes, placing a quick kiss against his lips and bringing her hands up to his neck. "If you say so."


	9. "you went against my parenting"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is based on both personal experience and this thing I saw on Tumblr from an interview with Dan Goor, about how Jake and Amy would have very different parenting styles because of their completely different personalities, and this drabble was born.
> 
> Enjoy!

He had known something was wrong the moment he entered the bedroom and saw her sat on the edge of the bed staring intently down at her phone. Usually at this point she would be doing her daily crossword, this was the only time in the day where she was free to do it - once the kids had been put down to bed - but today it looked as though she's distracted by something.

Jake had noted the fact that from the two hours between dinner and right now she had seemed... off. She was fine before then, no doubt about it, and he can't think of anything that might have caused a change in her mood. Mac and Dora hadn't given up a fight to help after dinner, Mac even offering to take out his plate into the kitchen and voluntarily deciding to help his younger sister pick up the mess they had both made all over the place before, and they didn't argue about having a bath - the two of them didn't even start a fight about who got to sit on the end of the bath with access to the bath toys - and they didn't try and get out of going to bed.

Now that he thinks back to it he's sure the kids are after something or are hiding something, but this isn't the time.

Cautiously, Jake approaches the bed, making her look up at him swiftly. She had the look in her eye that he recognized from seeing it quite frequently, the look that signified she was mad at him, not the kids. 

He decided to get straight to the point. "What did I do this time?" He asks, a small grin on his face.

She stands from the bed and goes over to the chest of drawers before digging through her pajamas in the second drawer. "I never said you did anything."

"Oh don't kid me, you've got the look in your eye that you have always had when I've done something that's pissed you off," he replies, "So what did I do?"

Amy then quickly turns on her heels to face him again, throwing the shirt back in the drawer as she moves. "You went against my parenting."

Jake's brows furrow as he thinks back to the day's events, replaying every inch to double-check he hadn't missed anything. In the end, he can't think of it so he questions it instead. "When did I do this?" He wonders.

She gives him a glare as if the answer was obvious but when he still doesn't get it she rolls her eyes. "After dinner, when Mac threw a tantrum about the fact I told him no when he asked if we could go out into the courtyard because he had to start getting ready for bed."

 _Oh yeah,_ he mentally thought, the memory of the four-year-old getting angry over not being allowed out there that night coming back to him. "And what does this have to do with me making you mad?"

Amy crosses her arms over her chest and sighs audibly, moving her gaze away from him for a moment before bringing it back to stare at him. "Because you then told him you would take him out there despite the fact I had already given a valid reason why he wasn't allowed out there."

"To stop him from going red in the face, Ames, we both know he would have done that." Jake says.

She nods. "I am aware he would have done that, we've seen him do that, but I was stepping ground with him and you went and completely shattered that."

He shrugs lightly. "So what? I didn't want to see him get even madder because I know that would make you madder than you are with me."

Amy cuts in quickly. "Jake, when you do that it's making him believe that he can get what he wants if he throws a tantrum about it. He's gonna learn to get so manipulative and get under our skin to get what he wants and that's not right."

"But he would have rode that wave right up until we put him down, long after even because he refuses to go to sleep if he's mad. Surely this counts as a win because both kids went down without a problem and we're not coaxing Mac to stay in his bed."

"Maybe there is a plus side to it but for all we know he might be sat in bed right now trying to devise a plan on how to guilt us into letting him have candy or ice-cream before dinner. He may only be four but he's a smart four-year-old, he gets praise for one thing he repeats it to keep getting praise - he throws a tantrum to get what he wants, he keeps throwing tantrums to get what he wants," Amy replies, emphasizing the last bit, "He learns from experience, like every human being out there, but giving him the impression that doing something we're trying to teach him not to do will get him something he wants isn't helping us or him."

Jake sighs before nodding. He pauses, causing the room to fall into a quiet silence before speaking up again. "You're right, no more letting him guilt me into doing something he wants."

Amy smiles subtly. "Thank you."


	10. "i don't wanna go"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Mac's first day of kindergarten, and he's not happy about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I miss school, very surprisingly, but it's guaranteed I'm not doing anything until *at least* September, so in turn, I wrote this. 
> 
> Please answer my questions in the end notes, I'm putting it there as that's where it will make the most sense once you've read the chapter. They're very short and won't take too long, plus we have a lot of time on our hands right now too and it will really help me out if you answer them. <3

Jake knew that something was up the moment he opened his eyes. It was almost eight am on a Tuesday morning and since Mac was born, both Jake and Amy were never able to sleep beyond six-thirty - and since Dora was born it was pushed forward and know he would be very lucky to sleep in past six, so the fact it was 7:58 was something very strange. 

Now don't get him wrong, he is pleased the kids had let him sleep in, he knows that in a month's time that will be even more unlikely with the fact that in the coming weeks they were due to welcome a third Santiago-Peralta child into the mix. He thinks at first that they had gone in and woken Amy up instead, but when he turns his head over his shoulder he finds her still asleep beside him he decides to check the monitor on Amy's bedside table.

They were due to move out of their apartment soon after the baby is born, with New York real estate they both knew it wasn't going to happen beforehand, and with two kids aged five and four the monitor was still necessary to make sure the kids were actually asleep and not pretending because if either Jake or Amy stood by the door the act would continue. The two of them were very convincing when it came to lying about being asleep so the monitor is useful as they can catch the kids in the act without them knowing, but also because it was New York and Amy is quite an anxious person. 

As the black and white picture projects, both of the kids are asleep in their own beds surprisingly. 

His eyes end up falling on the time and date on the top of the small screen the events of what exactly is happening today fill his head and the next thing he knows he's shaking Amy's shoulder to wake her up. 

She shoves her head deeper into the pillow and tries to push away his hand rested on her arm. 

"Babe, you need to wake up, the kids have got school today." He says in a whisper, just loud enough for her to open her eyes grudgingly. 

Amy nods and begins sitting up. "I'm aware, Jake, we spent all of yesterday getting their stuff ready." She says. 

Jake then buts in, handing her the monitor slowly. "Yes, but we've got to leave to drop them off in half an hour and both of the kids are still asleep."

Just then Amy jumps out of bed, going as fast as she could at eight-months pregnant. Jake follows her quickly into the room Mac and Dora shared. Amy was stood beside Dora's bed, trying to wake the very heavy-sleeper - something that she had gotten from Jake. Mac, on the other hand, was one of the easiest people to wake, all it took was saying his name a few times as a whisper and he was up, but even today seemed to be a struggle. 

When the five-year-old eventually came around, Jake moved and sat on the mattress by his son's feet. "Good morning buddy." He said as the boy rolled over on to his back and squinted his eyes to see in the darkness of the room.

"You need to get up for school, Mac." Amy said, still attempting to wake his sister.

Mac groans and hides his head under the comforter. "I don't wanna go!" He complains, his voice muffled under the duvet. 

Jake pats his son's foot from the top of the sheet. "C'mon, you were so excited yesterday."

That was true. For the past few weeks, all Mac had been able to talk about was how excited he was to be moving up to kindergarten. It was still the same building as where he had gone for pre-K, just a different classroom. They had told him that when, at the beginning of the summer, he was a little skeptical of the idea of leaving his old teacher behind, but after that conversation, the five-year-old seemed psyched about the idea of moving on to _"big boy school"._

Suddenly today, however, they were back at where they were at the beginning of the summer.

They can see Mac shake his head violently from under the comforter. "No! I'm not excited anymore. I don't want to go!" 

Amy had been successful in trying to wake Dora up, the four-year-old furrowing her eyebrows deeply at why her brother was hiding under the comforter. 

"Is Mackie okay?" She wonders, standing on the mattress as she climbed out of her bed. 

Jake looks up and nods in his daughter's direction. "Mackie's okay, he's just a little nervous about school today."

Mac's head immediately pops out from under the comforter again, his face stern and his arms crossed under the sheet still. "I am not scared, I don't want to do. There is a deffarance."

"Do you mean difference?" Amy questions, making the young boy nod his head. 

Then the five-year-old opens his mouth again, pulling his arms out from under the duvet and resting them on top next to his sides. "And I know big words, which means I don't have to go to school."

Jake can't help the small laugh escape his throat before seeing the glare Amy was giving him from the opposite side of the room makes his face go straight again. He looks to Mac with a sympathetic gaze, knowing that when he was his son's age he was completely the same. "Look, that's not just what school is for, buddy, it will help you with big numbers and even bigger words and all the things you need to know. Plus you'll still be able to see your old teacher, Dory is in her class now remember?"

Mac nods and looks to his younger sister, who had moved away from her bed and was stood closer toward her father now. "She is?" He asks.

Amy and Jake nod simultaneously. "Yeah, it's her first day at pre-K today, you've both got school and you'll be able to see her there too." 

The boy's face lights up at the idea of Dora being at the school with him, and he pushes his comforter from his legs and smiles brightly as he climbed out of bed himself. 

Dora and Mac had always been close, they were only a year and a bit apart which might be a reason for it, but the fact that knowing his younger sister was going to be at school with him being the reason for Mac's sudden excitement again made Jake's heart full again, for probably the millionth time this week. 

Jake and Amy took the wave of Mac being happy with the idea of going to school again to their advantage, managing to get both kids dressed, fed, teeth brushed, and even themselves ready for the day with only one meltdown courtesy of Dora wanting to wear one of her fancy dress outfits to school and being told _no, she had to wear t-shirt and leggings_ and out of the door at a record-breaking only seven minutes late. 

There were more tears when they dropped the kids off, Dora losing it again when the realization hit her of what exactly was going on and what school really meant, Mac getting upset when he noticed one of his close friends from pre-K had gone to a different school and wasn't there and Amy crying basically the whole time because of _damned pregnancy hormones_ _and the fact her babies were all grown up._

When both of the kids had successfully gone through the classroom doors and Jake and Amy were able to get away unseen by the kids, knowing from experience that if one of the two had seen them walking away it would have resulted in further meltdowns, Jake smiles to his wife, placing his hand on her bump protruding between them. 

"Mac and Dory might have all grown up, but in a month's time we're gonna have this little one tying us down with basically everything." Jake says, the smile wide on his face. 

Amy returns the grin. "I can't wait." She replies, shaking her head before standing on her toes and pressing her lips against her husband's very briefly. 

When they part Jake copies her head movement. "Me neither."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Peralta-Santiago baby number three... do you have any preferences of whether it should be a boy or girl? Please tell me what you would like them to be, I would really appreciate it! Also, have any good names to suggest? Those would be greatly appreciated too, I suck at picking names. 
> 
> (And Dory is a nickname for Dora given by Jake, it's not a typo)


	11. "i'm just like you, dada"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I saw this idea on tumblr somewhere but I really don't know remember. If anyone knows please tell me!

Jake enters the apartment with a huff, slamming the door loudly behind him as he throws his bag to the floor and kicks his shoes off a little too far. He groans under his breath in frustration, moving to clear up the shoes that had ended up half-way toward the couch and put them beside the door. There's no hesitation that after he's put his shoes where they are supposed to be, he goes over to the couch to sit down, but just before he can throw himself into the piece of furniture he's stopped by Amy exiting their bedroom. 

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows and closing the distance between them to stand a few feet away rather than an entire room. 

He lets out a sharp exhale through his nose and leans his ass against the back of the couch, facing in the direction of his concerned-looking wife. "Sorry, I've just had a bad day." He sighs, shining the more-frequently-used apologetic look in his eyes. 

She gives him a sympathetic smile, knowing that there had been days at work where she had wanted to punch a hole in the wall following it. As she goes to open her mouth again, she notices something that causes her eyebrows to knit closely together again. She gives a subtle point with her finger, tilting her head slightly. "Are you wearing different clothes than you were this morning?" She asks.

Jake nods, looking down to the green and black flannel he was wearing, changed from the blue one he had left the apartment that morning. "Yeah, there was an incident."

"What did you do?" Amy asks, her voice with a sudden drop as she flashes her husband her perfectly perfected _what this time?_ face. 

The detective looks hurt but he can't help the smile creep up on his face. "How dare you assume I did something wrong," he says, but wasn't gaining any different expressions pointed at him other than the disbelieving face still being shot in his direction. He shakes his head subtly, "It really wasn't me. Charles and I were called out for a drunk and disorderly, the guy had been in the bar since ten this morning and apparently had at least one drink in his hand at all times but no one stayed long enough to count exactly how many this guy had had and now he was causing a scene just outside of the bar. Anyway, fast forward a five minute negotiation with the guy, a ten minute care ride back to the precinct and three projectile vomiting sessions later, I decide to have a shower at the precinct and throw my old clothes away because there was no amount of washes that would get rid of those stains."

Amy grimaces, her face scrunching up tightly as she allows him to continue. 

"I swear Ames, I have never seen that much fluid before and we live in an apartment with two kids aged two and three and _both of them_ are potty training." He adds, making both Amy and himself crack a smile. 

Just then Amy's smile grows wider. "Which reminds me, Mac went on his own in the actual toilet earlier, not on the bathroom or kitchen floor." She quickly says, changing the subject like a flip of a coin. 

Jake stands up straight again. "That's great," the detective cheers, the smile becoming bigger on his face too at the thought of maybe not having to clear up that sort of mess from the tiled bathroom and kitchen floor less than every two hours, "What about Dora? Is there any progress with that?"

She shakes her head quickly. "No, I still have to bribe her candy just to make her sit in the seat, but we might not have to be changing double the amount of diapers a day for much longer." 

He goes to open his mouth again but is instead cut off by the tiny voice of Mac in their bedroom. The two of them go toward the door but quickly Amy stops him before Jake can push the slightly ajar door open completely. 

"We were also digging through the closet earlier and Mac found this, it's a little surprise for you." She says before allowing her husband to push in front of him and quickly open the door. 

Jake stands in the doorway in shock as he swears his heart melts into a puddle on the floor to see Mac stood in the middle of the bedroom floor, basically drowning inside his old beat-cop uniform. The toddler is beaming up at him, using his hidden hand to keep the hat off his eyes. Mac's feet are only at where Jake's knees would have been in the uniform, and there's inches of sleeves hanging off over the boy's hands. Complete with the finishing touch of the badge plate basically covering the entirety of the three-year-old's chest. 

"I'm just like you, dada!" Mac shouts out, his voice high with excitement as he readjusts the hat again so he can see. 

He steps closer and manages to pick the toddler up into his arms without the pants dropping to the floor. The loose material just hangs in the air, making easy objects for Dora to play around with as she joins her father and brother after having had Amy help her down from the bed. "Well aren't you the cutest cop there ever was?"

Mac nods his head, making the hat fall in front of his eyes again. Jake moves it up and gets it out of his face again, placing it so it sits on the back of the boy's chocolate coloured curls like a beanie. "Do I look good?" The toddler asks, furrowing his brows slightly. 

Jake swears that his smile couldn't have grown any wider, but yet it still seems to happen. "You look the best."


	12. "apparently make daddy run round all day is exhausting for them too"

Amy Santiago was exhausted. She was more exhausted than exhausted, however she's too tired to think of what word it would be to express exactly how tired she was. As it turns out, having two kids aged one and under left little room available to get the recommended amount of sleep required by the human adult on it's own, but add on the fact of going back to work as a sergeant of the NYPD as well as the studying for the upcoming lieutenants exam left basically no time in the day. 

She was never really this tired, though, but the previous night had been rough on both her and Jake. She had stayed up until just gone midnight (which in her fairness was very late given the fact that the two of them were usually crashed down in bed by nine-thirty) studying, which was when Dora woke up for her first nightly feed. Once the three-month-old was back asleep, Mac had started screaming bloody murder from his room down the hall following a bad dream and was unable to go back to sleep until two hours later. Then Dora woke up again for a diaper change and thankfully went down quickly after that. Then Mac woke up again for a reason she was still trying to figure out.

And that's how the rest of the night went: when one was asleep, the other was awake. 

So during the course of her day at work, Amy may or may not have had probably way too much coffee just to keep her eyes open.

Amy had been back at work for just under a week now after having taken a three-month absence after Dora was born. Jake had been at home with the kids today on his first day off since his return back to work two and a half months ago, and had bee sending her constant updates on how the kids were doing. Despite how tired she might be, there's a huge part of her that can't wait to get back into the chaos of her apartment to see her kids again though. 

But when she reaches the door, she doesn't hear the normal screams of a half-excited half-refusing to get ready for bed from the toddler or from the quickly getting frustrated infant. Instead, the only noise coming from the opposite side of the wooden door is the muffled sound of the TV on in the background. 

When Amy enters the apartment, the light for the living room is off causing the room to be shut away from the rest of the apartment. The hallway from outside is shining a small amount of light in the direction of the dining room table and the TV is casting minor amounts of light on to the couch. She's able to make out the figure of Jake lying down on the couch by the fact his feet were hanging off the edge. 

She shuts the apartment door, ridding the light and allowing the darkness of the apartment to swallow up the room again, leaving only the main menu screen on the TV illuminating the couch. 

The only noise she could hear is the quiet theme song playing in the background about the very well-known sponge under the sea. Jake must have put on the DVD to keep Mac occupied and it must have finished.

That's when she looks over to couch to see possibly the best sight she had ever seen. She feels her heart fill as she stares down to her sleeping husband on the couch, with the kids asleep on him too. Dora was rested against his chest, snoring ever-so-subtly, and Mac was rested against his legs, his head in Jake's lap.

Amy can't help he wide smile that comes across her face as she pulls her phone out of her pocket to take a picture. Luckily the light coming from the TV behind her was enough so her phone didn't automatically put the flash on and risk waking possibly all three of them. 

Knowing it wasn't great if they all stayed there for the night, Amy kneels down in front of the couch and gently shakes her husband's shoulder, being carefully not to rock him to fiercely because the three-month-old was only one movement away from waking up the entirety of the apartment building. It takes a couple of nudges before Jake starts waking up.

He lets out an annoyed groan as he opens his eyes, feeling the burn of the light before turning his head in the opposite direction to shield himself. 

"C'mon, you need to get up or you'll regret it." Amy whispers, unable to hold back the smile. 

He mumbles something under his breath that is inaudible to anyone other than himself and is seconds away from drifting off again when he moves a little too much and can feel the stretching out and grunts of the infant laying on his chest. That's when he's suddenly wide awake and watching to see if Dora was about to start screaming. The three-month-old lets out a quiet exhale and stays asleep, but at that point Jake knew he needed to get up. 

Amy helps his out by reaching down and picking the limp Mac up into her arms carefully as not to wake him up before pressing a gentle kiss to the top of the one-year-old's head. The shift seems to set Dora off as she starts whimpering but it doesn't go as far as that and like a light, the infant is out again. 

The two of them head in opposite directions, Jake shuffling along the floor into their bedroom to put Dora down and Amy taking Mac into his crib down the hall. They meet again in the hall as Jake is going back into the living room to turn off the TV. 

"Apparently make daddy run round all day is exhausting for them too." Jake says, stifling back a yawn before he rubs his eyes. 

Amy nods in agreement, patting her husband's shoulder as she goes into the bedroom to get ready for bed. 


	13. "but i'm not a father yet"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because Mac was born like september/October 2020, it wouldn't really involve Mac... I don't actually know what I'm trying to say, just I hope you enjoy.

It's the smell of coffee and quite frankly smoke that causes Jake to wake up more suddenly than he would if his alarm had started blaring right in his ear. He thinks he would prefer his alarm to be blaring in his ear than the possibility of being very badly scolded by both Amy and the fire department when they find a pot he might have left on the stove or something stupid like that. 

He quickly jumps out from under the comforter and basically runs into the closed door trying to open it as efficiently as possible to get to his mistake as fast as possible, but that's when he notices that Amy isn't actually in bed like he thought she was. 

Jake immediately slows down, opening the door as quietly as possible and peering through the crack to have his hunch confirmed. 

Amy was stood in the kitchen, fanning one of the cloths from the cupboard frantically over the stove to stop the smoke before it got to the alarm. 

He let the door fall open wide as he leans on the doorframe in amusement. Jake stands in silence, hoping not to gain Amy's attention away from not burning the place down. However that doesn't last very long because she whips her head up at the sound of the smoke alarm blaring out and that's when Jake steps in to help. 

He takes the cloth from his wife's hands and blows it under the alarm, shutting it off after a deafening minute. 

"Well if the smell of smoke hadn't woken me up, the alarm surely did." Jake says with a smile as he places the cloth down on the top of the counter. 

Amy brushes back a loose part of hair that had fallen from the braid rested on her shoulder before sighing deeply as she looks around the room. "It wasn't supposed to go like that."

Jake narrows his eyes slightly but is unable to wipe the grin from his face. "Can I ask why you're trying to burn this place down at eight in the morning on a Sunday morning?" He wonders, placing his hand against his hip. 

She avoids eye contact for a minute as she removes the pan and it's burnt contents off the stove and off to the side. "I was trying to make breakfast in bed for you," she says, "Though apparently it's gonna harder than I thought because that was already my third batch." 

"What have I done to deserve breakfast in bed?" Jake questions, knitting his eyebrows together. 

Amy smiles but gives him a look as if the answer was obvious. "It's father's day, it's what you do." She replies. 

Jake takes the cloth into his grasp again and plays around with it slightly. "But I'm not a father yet." 

She shrugs her shoulders. "You will be, in a few more months," she says as she moves into her husband's arms, him wrapping them around her waist whilst leaving enough room for her growing bump, "And in a few years our son is going to be making much better pancakes for you for father's day than I ever could."

He gives her a chaste kiss against the top of her head as he nods. "More than likely, yeah," he whispers, gaining a forced unhappy look in return. "And I can't wait."


	14. "what about a baby"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think half of these have actually been based off actual tumblr prompts xD

The four of them were seated at the table, finally, after having spent ten minutes trying to get Mac and Dora to remain seated at the table. 

It had been an eventful day to say the least. so when Jake and Amy managed to convince both of the kids that dinner was more fun than their new invented game with entailed tipping a full woven basket of toys on the floor, filling the basket up again and then tossing all the toys out on repeat, it was a breath of relief for both the parents to have some sort of calmness to the apartment. 

To put it lightly, it was no longer chaos. 

Although there was a slither of tension between the household. There had barely been a word spoken since Dora's mini meltdown - that had started because the two-year-old _really_ didn't want to have dinner yet so she got angry and threw her cutlery across the table and her spoon had hit Mac on the shoulder, which resulted with tears from both the toddlers. Who said the terrible twos weren't a thing?

However at the same time the silence was a good thing too. It had been the same conversation on repeat between Jake, Amy and Mac throughout the day, a conversation that had really been going on for probably more than a week. 

It had started when Mac had been picked up from daycare last week, and as many times as Jake and Amy had said no to the suggestion the adamant but stubborn three-year-old had refused to let the topic go. 

The break in times Mac had brought it up through didn't run short either. He brought it up every twenty minutes, so while this was one of the longest breaks in between it - the last time had said it was as Jake was beginning to get dinner ready forty minutes ago at the latest - it still managed to bring itself up during a meal for the twelve time in a row. 

Mac had looked up from swirling his fork in the spaghetti, making a much bigger mess of the sauce as necessary, and the moment he does Amy and Jake are both looking to each other as they prepared for the hundredth of thousandth of time Mac brought it up. 

His brown eyes switched in a heartbeat to wide puppy eyes, which they all thought was ironic. He had put a sweet tone on his voice at the start of all of it, which was slowly turning impatient as he kept getting denied and now it was basically coming out as a whine. "I want a puppy." 

Jake and Amy nod themselves into the conversation as they both lock their gazes upon their son. They both sigh slightly as Jake responds with the same answer as every other time Mac had asked.

"I'm sorry, buddy, but you know mama's allergic to dogs, we can't." Jake replied. 

Mac lets out a frustrated groan and looks away. "But I wanna puppy, not a dog."

There's a look between Amy and Jake of deep furrowed eyebrows before Jake turns to his side a little to face Mac better. 

"A puppy is a baby dog." Jake explained, gaining Mac's full attention - which was strange because usually the three-year-old would keep his attention intensely pointed away from his parents faces. 

Just as the conversation seems to have dropped itself casually, Mac brings it straight back up again, this time with a little bit of a twist to it. 

He dead-eyes his father and tilts his head to one side subtly. "What about a kitten?" Mac queries, the damned sweet tone in his voice again at the new idea. 

This time it's Amy who answers Mac's question. 

She gives a small look to jake before she slowly shakes her head. "Honey, a kitten isn't a great idea right now. They can get cross and they scratch and bite which wouldn't be good if Dora got cross too, because you know how angry she can get. And if they go outside they might bring stuff back into the apartment which wouldn't be very nice." 

There's a look in Mac eyes that they hadn't seen before with this type of conversation. They weren't sure if it was the whole idea of getting a kitten had disappeared (they for sure knew the whole puppy conversation was nowhere near finished no matter how many times they said they couldn't get a dog) or if he was thinking of some other kind of animal to propose but it was quiet again and the conversation was dropped. 

Or so they thought. 

It couldn't have been more than a minute later before Mac's next suggestion popped into his head. The toddler didn't give his parents any kind of warning as to what it was, he didn't look up from his dinner or fidget in his seat slightly, he blurted out the words and then looked up. 

"What about a baby?"

Jake, who had only just taken a sip of his drink, holds back spitting out the liquid before choking back on it he swears it threatens to go into his lungs. After a moment, Jake coughs out, "A what?"

Mac happily shrugs his shoulder, a grin plastered on his face as he moves up onto his knees as this new idea. "A baby."

Amy speaks up before her husband can let out another coughed response. "Mac, a baby is a big thing, there is so much that you have to do with a baby and they do cost a lot of money too."

The toddler refused to give up the wide toothy smile that had been passed down from Jake. "I've got a piggy bank that's almost full."

Jake and Amy can't help but smile in each other's directions at their son's remarks. 

"I know, baby, but it would have to be lots of full up piggy banks to have enough money. Plus that's a conversation that needs to happen between just your daddy and I." Amy replies, reaching out her hand over the table toward the toddler. 

Mac looks up to them both with furrowed eyebrows. "Are you gonna have the confersa-tion?" He wonders, struggling a little on the last word. 

Jake and Amy both look to each other, not saying anything but only nodding, Amy giving their son a verbal yes when she looks back to the toddler. 


	15. “you're sick, buddy, you have a fever"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm british so we use Celsius (which is 37.5 to be classed as a fever), i don't actually know if 100.3 Fahrenheit is a fever, i wrote this quickly because I didn't want to loose the idea and its too hot to concentrate.

Both Mac and Dora had been going on and on about this day for weeks, it was a birthday part for one of Dora's friends at daycare and both of them had been invited, and they were both so excited for it, so when Mac woke up with a 100.3 fever he was devastated to find out he couldn't go. 

He hadn't been in the best mood throughout the morning watching his younger sister get ready for the party. He would have sulked off to his room if he wasn't stuck on the couch under piles of blankets because he claimed to be freezing cold. 

Amy had protested at first, saying that maybe Dora shouldn't go either, to make it fair on Mac, but Jake quickly remarked how that would make their daughter even more unhappy than their son was currently. Jake told her to take Dora to the party, and he would stay home with Mac - because quite frankly he wasn't too psyched to be in a single room with thirty-odd three and four-year-olds for four hours straight. Don't get him wrong, he loves Mac and Dora so much, but he wasn't sure if he could handle everyone else's kids too because thirty is a lot of toddlers.

So when Amy and their overly-happy three-year-old left the apartment, Jake cuddled up beside Mac on the couch.

The moment Jake slid in between the cushions and the sprawled out four-year-old, Mac turned his groggy-like attention on to his father. "Why couldn't I go to the party?" He sulks. 

"Because you're sick, buddy, you have a fever." Jake replies softly. 

Mac shook his head quickly (well, as quickly as he could - which given his tired state was not very fast). "But I feel fine now. Please let me go." Mac pleads, giving his father the puppy-dog eyes. 

Jake gives his son a smile before shaking his head slightly. "No, you have to stay here and get better." 

The toddler crosses his arms crossly under the mountain of blankets wrapped tightly around him before turning his face away from Jake in a mini-tantrum - because he couldn't get up and throw a proper one. 

Jake watches his son's unhappy gesture for a minute before he leans forward a little and smiles. "How about though, we go lay in mama and mine's bed and watch a movie in there?" He asks. 

He can see Mac's face light up before the boy even looks to him. He turns his head back to him and grins widely, seeming to jump (not quite but you see the point) up out of the blankets. "Yeah!" He exclaims happily. 

Jake manages to scoot himself back out from his position on the couch before picking the four-year-old into his arms and carrying him through to the bedroom, Mac allowing two of the blankets to come with him by keeping a tight grasp on the in his fists. When Jake lies Mac down on Amy's side of the bed, he snuggles into her pillow and places the blankets over his legs carefully. 

Mac then looks up to Jake again. "Can we have some ice-cream?" He questions, making Jake smile. 

It's not like he could say no right now, the kid was missing out on a birthday party he had been so excited for. Also he just couldn't because Mac always found a way to manipulate him into doing what the toddler wanted. 

"What flavour?" Jake wondered. 

Mac takes a minute to think before sitting up with his answer. "Vanilla." 

Just like his mother. 

Jake nods and walks out of the bedroom and going out into the kitchen to prepare Mac's ice-cream, as well as one for himself. 

A minute later, Jake returns back into the room and hands Mac a bowl of vanilla ice-cream before going around to his own side of the bed and sitting down himself. The moment he sits down on the mattress, Mac looks over his shoulder. 

"Daddy, which one do you have?" He wonders, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. 

He points the bowl in his son's direction. "Chocolate."

Mac nods, settling back into Amy's pillow. "I like chocolate, but vanilla is my favourite." 

Jake gives out a small chuckle, moving his hand to run it through Mac's curls. "I know it is, monkey."

A few hours later, Jake hears the apartment door open just before Amy's voice can be heard calling his name and his whereabouts in the apartment. Before he could reply though, Dora burst through the door with a wide grin on his face. 

Amy was quick to follow in after her daughter, grinning at the sight before her. 

Jake and Mac were still situated on the bed whilst in the middle of their third movie (which in order had been the spongebob movie, the fox and the hound 2, and the second spongebob movie) however over the course of the afternoon Mac had switched positions multiple times (sitting against Amy's pillow, sitting on Jake's lap, hanging his head over the foot of the bed ((how he found that comfortable Jake is still wondering)) lying on his stomach sprawled out over two thirds of the bed) but this had seemed to be his favourite so far. 

He had his head rested on Jake's lap, lying across the side of the bed with Jake slowly running his hand through his son's hair. 

Amy smiles. "He likes that." 

Jake nods, smiling at the sight of Dora trying to get up on the bed too. "Yeah, he does. I'm just glad he's feeling better," he replies, "And his fever's gone down too, the last time I checked it was 99.1."

"That's good." Amy says, helping their daughter up onto the bed.

That's when she spots the two empty bowls sat on Jake's bedside table.

"Did you two have ice-cream?" She asks.

Jake gives her an innocent look while Mac rats him out, nodding his head without moving from his position.

Jake then nods slowly. "Okay, maybe we had one bowl."

Mac quickly shakes his head. "No we didn't, we had four." 

Amy gives Jake a look only he knows, meaning he was in trouble because the kids were due to have dinner soon. "Four?"

Jake points his finger to Dora, who was trying to stand up to jump on the bed. "Oh, come on, she's probably been hopped up on cake all afternoon," he reasons, "And it helped his fever."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recently rewatched fox and the hound with my little sister and she loved it and it made me so happy because I loved it growing up so much. Please don't tell me it was just a british film otherwise i kinda look stupid. 
> 
> goodnight everyone, its 18 degrees where i am right now and its almost 10 pm. Just to put it in perspective, its usually like 8 degrees this late at night during the summer so this is frickin hot. Lets hope i don't melt.


	16. “mackie got scared so i wanted to help him”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously think I've got to base some of these on actual tumblr prompts now because like half of them haven't been xD
> 
> There was a massive thunderstorm earlier where I am (like the walls and floors to the second floor of the house were shaking because of the thunder) so this idea was born.

Amy didn't think much of it when she heard the first bit of thunder. It was quiet, she wouldn't have heard it if the TV was still on, and at first she wasn't sure if it even was thunder anyway. 

When she heard the rainfall hitting up against the window she had gotten out of bed and opened up the window a little, allowing the clearer air to filter through into the bedroom. There was a wave of relief that had come over her where she felt the cooler air slip through the gap in the window because the last few days had been blazing. Even the kids were wiped out because of the heat, and these were two toddlers who seemed to have bounds of energy and would run around long gone midnight if they were allowed. 

It had taken a few minutes before the first rumble could be heard, but again it was so quiet. However when the second one came it was much louder, followed quickly by a large flash of light that shone through from behind the blinds. 

She went to reach over for Jake, only to find his side of the bed empty before remembering the fact that he was on a stakeout with Charles for the next two days. She then sat up in bed and shuffled out from under the paper-thin comforter (their other one was just too hot at night in the summer anyway, but especially with the heatwave that had pretty much taken over New York the last few days) before walking over to the window and lifting the blind a little so she was able to see outside. 

The rain had picked up, falling so much heavier than it had done before, smashing up against the window in front of her. She watched in slight amazement, thunderstorms had been one of the things that had always got her attention, she quite liked them really, and just knowing that meant the heatwave was finally over make her unbelievably happy. This had been the first week in a while she had wished for it to be cold. 

Another loud grumble of thunder could be heard, quickly followed by a bright flash of light. It was too cloudy to see the lightning strikes. 

That's when her attention is ripped from the outside by the baby monitor sat on her side of the bed letting out a noise, making her spin around on her heels. Before walking over she closes the blind again, pulling the window to as well but not closing it entirely. 

She picked the monitor up in her hand and watched the scene from Mac and Dora's room unfold in front of her eyes. 

Dora had climbed out of her bed, which wasn't unusual. The two-year-old had only just transitioned over to a bed from her crib and she was loving the freedom of not being confined in for the whole night. It usually took half and hour just to get her to stay in bed in the first place. 

However rather then the toddler waddling out of her bedroom, she instead had wandered over to the window to take a look at the thunder and lightning herself. She had then spotted that her brother had been woken up by the noise too, and rather than being fascinated by it like his younger sister, Mac had a complete different approach to the loud clashes from outside their apartment building. He was scared. 

It broke her heart to see her son unhappy by the noises but before she could intervene it seemed as though Dora had thought of that first. 

Amy watched as Dora removed herself from the stool under the window and walked across the bedroom before struggling to climb up on to Mac's bed. The toddler quickly manages to, but it was amusing to watch her stumble the first time. 

Dora then stands up and balances herself on the mattress, walking across Mac's comforter to sit beside him against the headboard. She then wraps her arm around her older brother and whispers something to him. 

"It's okay, Mackie." She comforts quietly, the monitor just being able to pick up the sound. 

At that point Amy places the monitor back down on her beside table and leaves her room, walking down the hall and pushing open the already ajar door. As it turns out the scene is still as heartwarming seeing it in person as it was on the monitor. 

Dora hadn't removed her arm from around Mac's shoulder and she had snuggled more into his side, more giving him a sideways hug than anything. 

Amy still had to ask though. "What are you doing out of bed, baby?" She asks, directing it to her daughter. 

Dora looks to her innocently. "I wanted to see the thunder. But Mackie got scared so I wanted to help him."

Amy swears that the toddlers response pulls at her heart strings tighter than ever before. She grins, nodding her head, telling her daughter that what she did was a very good thing. She then goes and sits in Mac's bed, the three-year-old immediately cuddling up into her arm just as another loud clash of thunder can be heard. 

"I don't like it." Mac proclaims loudly before burying his face in Amy's arm. 

Amy goes to rub his back as Dora stands up on the mattress again. "I know, honey, it's okay to be scared of it." Amy says. 

Dora nods. "Thunder can't hurt you." 

"Dora's right, thunder can't hurt you, it's outside." Amy agrees, much to the dismay of Mac. 

He shakes his head. "I don't care. It's still scary." He cries. 

The three-year-old lets out a squeal as a large flash of light filled the room, grabbing hold of Amy tightly. 

Amy manages to get his attention again once the light disappears. "Do you and Dora want to sleep in my room tonight, so I can keep you super safe?"

She doesn't think she's ever seen Mac nod his head so fast, making her nod in response and give him a gentle smile. Dora was excited about it too, telling her mother happily by jumping on her brother's bed. 

Amy let's Mac be carried into her bedroom, knowing the boy would refuse to walk, with Dora running alongside her feet. The two of them get comfortable next to her as Amy checks her phone after seeing it light up. 

She grins at the message, reading it aloud to Mac, making the toddler smile too.

_**(23:03 - Jake) do you hear that thunder?? that's crazy its so loud here. tell Mac that i love him so much and that its gonna be okay and that it will be over soon** _

And then another one comes through from Jake, making Amy holding back a laugh. 

_**(23:03 - Jake) and because i know dora will complain, tell her i love her so much too. and i love you ames so much. i'll be home in a couple days x** _

Mac smiles, furrowing his eyebrows to Amy slightly. "Can you tell daddy I love him too."

Amy nods, pressing a kiss into her son's hair. "Of course I can." She replies, already crafting the message back. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are an author's lifeblood and are greatly appreciated. Stay safe, love you all <3


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